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Listen:
“He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.”
—EPHESIANS 1:5 (NRSVUE)
Reflect:
I was not the most popular kid in school. I was always a bit smaller and slower developing physically, so try as I might, athletics meant hard work just to keep up! Now, I wasn’t unpopular either, I had a decent personality, and I was pretty quick witted, and looking back, I was pretty confident, too much so at times. I made friends fairly easily and some of those folks are still friends today. But my first ‘forever friend’ was someone I didn’t meet until I was in my mid-20s.
His name was Don Mapes, and sadly, he passed away a few years ago. We were both Youth Ministers at the time, he in a large downtown Church and I in a Church on the edge of town that was much smaller. Interestingly enough, our Youth Groups were about the same size. Youth Ministers are notoriously competitive and sometimes that gets in the way of friendship, but not with Don and me. We shared a connection over our love for guiding students, but it went much deeper, there was a respect and love for each other that was unique. There was an unspoken understanding between us that we were each other’s fiercest ally. Even after our paths diverted to new locations and other churches, we were constantly in touch and we always knew that each of us was praying for the other, our connection was one of belonging.
And that’s the kind of belonging God extends to us too. It’s the knowing-it-all kind.
Try an experiment. Think back through the day. Run the film of your hours and catch yourself doing something loving, something that connects you to someone you love. Let that be the picture that is most real about you and sign it mentally like an artist would a painting.
Blessing:
Learn to love yourself.
When you don’t feel worth loving,
may you remember that you were made on purpose.
May you see yourself through gentler eyes—
how someone who loves you sees you,
with pride and tenderness, deep joy and care.
Every freckle put in place.
Every split end, noticed.
Every tear, bottled,
Every bad joke, humored.
All your limits and mistakes, all your wild hopes (and sometimes sass)
everything that makes you 'you,'
is a masterpiece—
at least in the eyes of love.
Blessed are you, who sometimes feel unlovable,
who constantly replays that one horrible moment
never mind, it’s been several years
and they definitely don’t remember it.
Blessed are you, as you shake off the embarrassment
of being human again today—
in all your cringe-worthy moments, your old school photos with crooked smiles, and the outsiderness you once felt
(or still feel).
Blessed are you, as you try to feel at home,
remembering with growing compassion that this is you,
in all your beautiful, unwieldy humanity.
Maybe humility is something like this:
compassion for yourself, because being loved requires no preconditions, being loved means you’re connected.
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